Orbital by bill zhao copyright 2017 Bill Zhao Table of Contents act one (earth)

on behind them. Peering through the edge of the window, he saw bright
but short lived flashes. These were the explosions of the ships behind.
Light chasers in pursuit of a goliath. Flak dinked the hull and a steady
line of ballistic fire made shallow dents outside. Derek couldn’t see the
enemy well, but he had a full and detailed view of the Chorus. Two
heavy automatic target and track cannons moved and fired
accordingly. The Symphony probably has four of those.
Outside the door, soldiers marched rapidly and into formation. They
carried an assortment of weaponry, now better suited for their
specialty. Those that ran towards the bow carried the multitude of guns
and explosives while those that ran towards the stern had heavy
launchers, specialised plasma and laser technology. Stuff that takes the
most out of scientists.
Two guards were situated outside the door, and between them walked
an officer dressed in white. “Derek Ragston, I’m Vice Admiral Faye
Yeylun. Admiral Chang sent me to personally guard you…” She spoke
without energy, the only life in her voice being one of irritation. She
was young to be her rank. Early thirties. Derek was just getting used to
that fact that everyone else was better than him until he was actually
considered important. And even when he became important, everyone
else still made him feel small. They controlled him. He was everyone’s
puppet. Derek knew that, but then again, he didn’t know much else.
Acting on someone else’s orders is better than acting on an uneducated
one, one of instinct. A glint of jealousy appeared in his otherwise blank
expression.
“
You good? Grab your gear and let’s go” said the impa ent Vice Admiral.
Derek walked over to her, shaking off his trance of coming to terms with
himself and his situa on. Which, in any case was s ll damn absurd.

---

“
Yeah, yeah…” replied Derek as he moved towards the footlocker. The latch
unlocked with a heavy clink. There was no dust to be seen here at all. It
might even sparkle in the sunlight. Enclosed the stainless steel box was a
rifle and a handgun. In par cular, an ANS Pulse Rifle and a Fourth
Genera on Falk 19 Semi-Automa c Handgun. Derek became familiar with
guns like these back in the armoury of the Orbi-Sec base back on Earth. It
must have been sacked and destroyed by now. He trained with the Falk
before. And he was damn good with it. The same can’t be said for the pulse
rifle but Derek liked trying new things. Derek grabbed the dark coloured
vest si ng under the guns. It felt like some sort of hardened plas c and
was smooth to the touch, the front and back panels were rigid and were
a ached to the shoulder pads surrounding the neck hole. He put it on and
adjusted the straps. An ammo belt was also present. He swung it over his
hip and fastened it.
“
Leave the leg armour. There’s plenty of it at the bridge.” Derek nodded
and stuffed his belt with Pulse Clips and Handgun Magazines. He holstered
the handgun and slung the rifle over his shoulder. In this very moment, he
felt just that li le bit more powerful. That li le bit more badass.
25
Fleet